Pope John Paul II

Served as Pope and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City for 27 years

John Paul II presided over as the Pope and Sovereign of
the State of the Vatican City for almost 27 years. Credited with being
the second-longest pontificate till date, His Holiness has too many
firsts to his credit. One of the most traveled leaders of the world,
Pope John Paul II is considered as one of the most influential leaders
of the world. His influence was not restricted to the Catholics across
the globe. Rather, a true world statesman, Pope John Paul II brought
changes in the image of the church, across the globe. During his long
reign as Pope, he said 'sorry' to Jews, Galileo, women, victims of the
Inquisition, Muslims slaughtered by the Crusaders and almost everyone
who had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church through the years.

Childhood

Pope John Paul II, baptized as Karol Józef
Wojtyla, was born on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. He was the
youngest of the 3 children of Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole, and Emilia
Kaczorowska, who was of Lithuanian and Polish ancestry. His mother died
when he was only eight years old and after a couple of years (1932),
Karol lost his elder brother as well. During his youth days, Karol
enjoyed playing soccer, as a goalie. In the year 1938, he shifted
lodgings to Kraków, along with his father.
It was here that Karol broadened his horizons of knowledge. Enrolling
himself in Jagiellonian University, he learned almost 12 languages and
also participated in various theatrical groups, as a playwright.

In 1939, when the Nazi Germans occupied Poland,
Karol was amongst the worst hit. His university had closed, leaving him
with no choice other than to earn a living by doing petty jobs. His father
left for the heaven abode in 1941, leaving him all alone in the world.
It was, thence, that he realized his calling for priesthood and started
studying in the clandestine underground seminary run by the Archbishop
of Kraków, Adam Stefan, Cardinal Sapieha. After surviving an accident
with a Geman truck, Karol's decision to become a priest became all the
more firm.

Early Life as a Priest

Ordained
as a priest on November 1, 1946, Karol Wojtyła was sent to Rome, at the
Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, to study theology. In
1948, after attaining a licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology, he
returned to Poland. His first-ever work as a priest was in the village
of Niegowić, fifteen miles from Kraków. A year later, Karol relocated to
Saint Florian's parish in Kraków. A teacher of ethics at Jagiellonian
University and the Catholic University of Lublin, Karol assembled a
group of about 20 young people that eventually expanded to 200 people.
These participants met for prayers, philosophical discussions and
helping blind and sick people.

It was in the year 1954 that Karol gained his
second doctorate, in philosophy. A holder of two doctorates, he started
his literary career by writing for the newspaper 'Tygodnik Powszechny',
also known as Universal Weekly. Herein, he wrote about the contemporary
church issues. Karol dealt with issues like war, life under communism
and his pastoral responsibilities, as the themes for his poems and
plays. He distinguished his literary writings from his religious ones by
publishing the former under pseudo names, so that they get recognition
on merit and not on his name. It was in 1960 that Karol wrote an
influential theological book 'Love and Responsibility', a defense of the
traditional Church teachings on marriage, from a new philosophical
standpoint.

Bishop and Cardinal

It was during his kayaking vacation, in July
1958, that Karol came to know about his nomination for the position of
auxiliary bishop of Kraków. Agreeing to serve as auxiliary to Archbishop
Eugeniusz Baziak, he was consecrated to the Episcopate on September 28,
1958. With this, he became the youngest bishop in Poland. After the
death of Baziak, Bishop Karol was elected as Vicar Capitular, or temporary administrator, of the Archdiocese. Becoming a Bishop, henceforth, he participated in the Second Vatican Council.

Bishop Karol also contributed in the Decree on
Religious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis Humanae) and the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). He
took part in the assemblies of Synod of Bishops. Admiring his worthy
contributions and laudable role as a temporary administrator, Pope Paul
VI appointed him as the Archbishop of Kraków, on December 1963.
Archbishop Karol was promoted to the Sacred College of Cardinals, on
June 26, 1967. Later on, he became instrumental in formulating the
encyclical Humanae Vitae, which dealt with sensitive issues of abortion
and artificial birth control.

Papacy

Following the death of Pope Paul VI, Albino
Luciani was appointed as the next Pope - Pope John Paul I. However, the
latter left for the heaven abode after only 33 days of his papacy,
thereby causing another conclave of the cardinals. Cardinal Giuseppe
Siri and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli were the two main contenders for the
post. However, observing the scale of their opposition, Cardinal Franz
König, Archbishop of Vienna, individually suggested Karol, the Polish
Cardinal, as a compromise candidate.

Surprisingly, Cardinal Karol won the election on
the eighth ballot on the second day. According to the Italian press, he
received 99 votes, from the 111 participating electors. With this,
Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła succeeded Pope John Paul I and became Pope
John Paul II. He was the youngest Pope to be elected, in the history of
Rome, since Pope Pius IX (1846), who was 54 years old. Becoming the
264th Pope, Pope John Paul II received his simplified Papal inauguration
ceremony on October 22, 1978, dispensing with the traditional Papal
coronation, just like his immediate predecessor.

Pastoral Trips

Pope John Paul II visited as many as129
countries as the Bishop of Rome. Attracting large crowds everywhere he
went, he became one of the largest-traveled Popes. The number of trips
he made to foreign countries was more than that of all his predecessors,
put together. Probably, this is the reason why Pope John Paul II was
also given the title of the 'Pilgrim Pope'. Though amongst the 129
countries, there were many countries that had been visited by his
predecessors; he is entitled with a lot of firsts. Pope John Paul II was
the first Pope ever to visit Mexico, Cuba and Ireland, a few names
amongst his long list.

Pope John Paul II was also the first pope to
travel to the United Kingdom (1982), Egypt and Jerusalem (2000). His
Holiness also became the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an
Islamic mosque (Umayyad Mosque) in Damascus, Syria (2001). There, he
also visited Umayyad Mosque, where John the Baptist is believed to be
interred. Pope John Paul II's visit to Luneta Park, Manila,
(Philippines) attracted probably the largest single gathering in Christian history. The visit took place on 15th
January 1995, during the X World Youth Day. In 2001, this Servant of
God also traveled to Kazakhstan, to celebrate 1,700 years of
Christianity.

Relationship With Other Religions

Anglicanism (Church of England)

Preached in Canterbury Cathedral during his visit to Britain

Issued a Pastoral Provision, allowing married former Episcopal priests to become Catholic priests & accepting former Episcopal Church parishes into Catholic Church

Allowed creation of the Anglican Use form of the Latin Rite, which incorporates the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Established Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church (Anglican Use), in cooperation with San Antonio Archbishop Patrick Flores

Lutheranism

Signed a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification, as a gesture of unity by the representatives of the
Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation

Judaism (Jerusalem)

Improved relations between Catholicism and Judaism

Became the first Pope to visit the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, in 1979

Visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in April
1986, thus becoming the first pope ever known to have made an official
papal visit to a synagogue

Established formal diplomatic relations
between the Holy See and the State of Israel, acknowledging its
centrality in Jewish life and faith

Visited Yad Vashem in Israel and made history by touching the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall in Jerusalem

Placed a letter inside the Western Wall in Jerusalem, asking for forgiveness for the actions against Jews, in the past

Became the first known Pope in history to receive a priestly blessing from a rabbi, in January 2005

Eastern Orthodox Church

Became the first Pope to visit Romania, a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country, since the Great Schism in 1054

Visited Ukraine and pleaded for "open,
tolerant and honest dialogue", also stated that putting an end to the
Schism was one of his fondest wishes

Became the first Pope to visit Greece in 1291 years

Buddhism

Was visited by Tibetan spiritual leader
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama eight times, more than any other
dignitary in this world

Islam

Became the first Catholic Pope to visit and pray in an Islamic mosque (Umayyad Mosque) in Damascus, Syria (2001)

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Elevated the Archdiocese of Trivandrum to a
Major Archdiocese, elevating the Archbishop to Major Archbishop, on
February 10, 2005.

Assassination Attempt & Death

Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded on 13th
May, 1981, as he was entering St. Peter's Square to address an
audience. The shooter was Mehmet Ali Ağca, an expert and trained Turkish
gunman of the militant group Grey Wolves. A second assassination
attempt took place on the Pope, on 12th May, 1982. In Fátima, Portugal, a man tried to stab him with a bayonet, but was stopped by security guards in time.

Pope John Paul II was diagnosed with septic
shock, a widespread form of infection - characterized by a very high
fever and profoundly low blood pressure, on March 31, 2005. Despite
this, he was not taken to the hospital and was given medical aid by a
team of consultants at his private residence. On April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul IIleft for the heaven abode, 46 days short of his 85th birthday. He was cremated at St. Peter's Basilica.

After Death

John Paul II is one of the four Popes, who have
been referred to with the title 'the Great'. He has been called 'John
Paul the Great' through popular and continued usage, since there is no
official process for declaring a pope "Great". In 2007, the successor of
Pope John Paul II - Benedict XVI began his beatification process. He
bypassed the normal restriction of five years having been passed since a
person's death, for beatifying him/her, citing "exceptional
circumstances". The Vicariate of Rome, on March 8, 2007, declared that
the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for beatification was at its
conclusion.

Title

John Paul II's official title was: ‘Bishop of
Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Head of the
College of Bishops, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch
of the West (this title was recently removed from the papal list of
titles by the reigning pope, Benedict XVI), Primate of Italy, Archbishop
and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the
Vatican City, Servus Servorum Dei, Pope John Paul II.'